Rick Warren, Joel Osteen and Jim Daly: The Lambs Lie Down on Broadway

“Jesus is clear as to how he feels about the mealy-mouthed approach to Biblical truth. He calls it being ‘lukewarm’ – ‘neither hot nor cold’ – and He rejects it outright.” – Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel

Rub-a-dub, dub – three of America’s most noted evangelical Christians are cozying up to the homo-fascist agitprop press corps. Joel Osteen, Jim Daly and Rick Warren are singing a different (show) tune, now that the approval rating for all things glitter is on the ascent. Well maybe “cozying up” is too strong; I mean they haven’t gone “full-Episcopalian” . . . yet. “Big Christian” may not be heeling when “Big Gay” shrieks in disapproval, but they’re definitely rolling over and playing dead.

Joel Osteen (he’s not a Pastor but he plays one on TV) has flopped on this issue on 3 different networks, with Larry King, Piers Morgan, Oprah and the coven on The View each taking turns shaming and befuddling the confused pastor of the biggest church in the country. A few weeks back, the Huffington Post interviewed Jim Daly of Focus on the Family revealing his not-so-subtle retreat from the hallowed ground of Biblical marriage.

Now, Pastor and Author Rick Warren has chimed in and “tapped out.” In a recent interview with Marc Lamont Hill, accused of homophobia, Warren came out like Mel Gibson after a saucy, angry binge captured by TMZ – “I have many, many gay friends, and have worked around the world with them in gay organizations to try to stop AIDS. We’re doing ‘World AIDS Day’ this weekend at Saddleback Church,” he said. “My wife and I have given millions of dollars to help people with HIV/AIDS and have worked with gay organizations on that.”

Really? “Many, many gay friends” and “millions of dollars”? Wow! Hey Rick, maybe you should have worn your Modern Family hoodie to the interview, jamming the Indigo Girls on your iPod. Is there anything more pathetic than a grown man who professes Christ, groveling to those who would toss him into the “screamer pits?” At least Mel Gibson didn’t bore or horrify us with a tread-worn declaration about his many, many Jewish friends.

Point of clarification – Is it not possible for a Christian Pastor to donate millions and work with organizations on HIV/AIDS that don’t identify by an abhorrent behavior? Isn’t that what the Bible would call “fellowship” with darkness and “unequally yoked”? Just checking!

Lamont prodded further, “What about the love part, though? I hear about the AIDS part …” as if to say that giving millions of dollars to fight a disease and comforting those who suffer from it, doesn’t quite reach the compassion level of, say, oh I don’t know — saluting and celebrating man on man sex. Warren, looking about as comfortable as a Kardashian at a Purity Ball, parried with, “it’s not illegal to love somebody.”

Of course, Lamont didn’t ask him about legality, so ignoring the John Kerry like nuance he probed deeper, “But you think it’s a sin.” And here, Pastor Warren bows even lower than Joel Osteen, who when asked if homosexuality is a sin, admits that it is, only to downgrade it to the moral equivalence of an overdue library book. “No, it’s not a sin to love somebody, it might be a sin to have sex with them,” adds Warren – “It might be.” Ah, moral clarity; don’t you just love it? “It might be.”

Osteen apologizes for The Bible every time he’s asked the question. Daly would have you believe that Christians can’t stop obsessing about “gay sex” and have turned it into a “super sin.” (Does “abomination” mean “super” in the Hebrew?) But Warren tops them all. Captain Ambiguous will not be outshined by the competition. Rick Warren won’t even admit that homosexuality is a sin, and he wants the world to know that he is truly repentant about ever standing publicly for Biblical marriage and sexual purity. Maybe it’s time to change the name of the church from Saddleback to Brokeback.

God, Christ, The Bible, most Pastors, Priests and Deacons, even AWANA leaders know that God’s way is: ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN UNDER GOD FOR ONE LIFETIME. Any sex outside of the Biblical definition of marriage is by definition – “a sin.” And Pastor Rick, it is a sin to love someone if “love” is merely a euphemism for “bring to orgasm;” and if that somebody is – your neighbor’s wife, your neighbor’s husband, their underage daughter, their livestock, or even their apple pie.

In the same interview, when asked about his support of California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 California voter initiative that constitutionally defined marriage as one man/one woman, Warren said that he meant for his views to have been solely for his own church, not a public endorsement. Asked if he could do it over again, would he make the same remarks, he added, “I would not have made that statement [again] . . . I wanted to talk to my own people as a duty, as a shepherd. I’m responsible for those who put themselves under my care. I’m not responsible for everybody else.”

That’s just great! So let me summarize: this paragon of Christian virtue, who has sold more books than Harry’s Potter, wants to tell us how and when to Daniel diet, wants to make sure that we all know how much money he has given to charity, but wants to go mute on righteousness and wickedness? Sound about right? Well not to the man and the God that he claims to profess:

But when thou give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does: That your alms may be in secret . . . That you appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret . . . No man, when he hath lighted a candle, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light . . . Jesus answered him, I spoke openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. (Matthew 6, Luke 11, John 18)

“Is it asking too much from our Christian leaders that they speak with biblical clarity on the moral issue of homosexuality?” asked Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality. “Rick Warren should clarify his statement by affirming that ALL homosexual behavior is sinful. Even better, he should enthusiastically proclaim the Good News that many men and women trapped in homosexual sin have been set free by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

About the author, John Kirkwood: John Kirkwood is a son of Issachar. He is a Zionist, gun-toting, cigar-smoking, incandescent light bulb-using, 3.2 gallon flushing, fur-wearing, Chinese (MSG) eating, bow-hunting, SUV driving, unhyphenated American man who loves his wife, isn't ashamed of his country and does not apologize for his Christianity. He Pastors Grace Gospel Fellowship Bensenville, where "we the people" seek to honor "In God we Trust." He hosts the Christian wake up call IN THE ARENA every Sunday at noon on AM 1160 and he co-hosts UnCommon Sense, the Christian Worldview with a double shot of espresso on UncommonShow.com. He is the proud homeschooling dad of Konnor, Karter and Payton and the "blessed from heaven above" husband of the Righteous and Rowdy Wendymae. View all articles by John Kirkwood

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